Appendix. 485 
THE SKYE CLUB OF SCOTLAND. 
DESCRIPTION AND POINTS OF THE SKYE TERRIER. 
Description. 
The Skye Terrier takes his name from the chief of those north- 
western islands of Scotland that, so far back as his history can be 
traced, formed his native home, and in which he was “found in 
greatest perfection’’. Upwards of three centuries ago the unmis- 
takable description of him was given by a writer on Luglishe 
Dogges, asa cur “brought out of barbarous borders fro’ the uttermost 
countryes northward,” ‘‘which by reason of the length of heare 
makes showe neither of face nor of body”. Subsequent authors 
refer as distinctly to him, and describe him as ¢he Terrier of those 
islands, ‘‘ having long, lank hair, almost trailing.to the ground”. 
Such evidence gives him an exclusive and indefeasable right to the 
designation which he bears. He is the only Terrier distinctively 
belonging to the north-western islands that is not common to the 
whole of Scotland. That he has been extensively displaced, there 
and elsewhere, there can be no question, though no better reason 
can be assigned for this than that ‘ilk dog has his day’’; or that, 
though others are no better and much less attractive, a charm has 
been thrown around them by a wizard wand. Yet it is believed by 
those who have the best practical knowledge of him that the Skye 
has no compeer in his own peculiar domain. Wherever there are 
rocks, dens, burrows, cairns, or covers to explore, or waters to take 
to, his services should be called into requisition. The smallest of 
all the useful Terrier tribe, the lowest set, the longest in body, the 
strongest proportionally in legs, feet, jaws, and chest, the most 
muscular and flexible in his whole frame, the best protected against 
weather, injury, or foes, with an unequalled acuteness of sight, 
scent, and hearing, an unrivalled alacrity of action, and an indomit- 
able pluck, he is possessed of pre-eminent qualifications for his 
special work. He needs only to have it put before him to prove 
that he is imbued with the spirit of his native master, who when 
taken from his hill to the battlefield and told :— 
There's the foe ; 
He has nae thought but how to kill 
Twa at a blow. 
No kennel can be complete without him. 
